Improvement in electric-circuit instruments for railway-signals



4T. S; HALL. l ,EleotrmMagnetioRailway Signal.` .110'. 103,174.

PATENT OFFICE.

` THOMAS s; HALL, 0F sTAMEoRD, CONNECTICUT.

Y' IMPROVEMENT :IN ELECTRIC-CIRCUIT INSTRUMENTS FOR R'AILWAY-SIGNALSl y f `Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 103,174.. dated May 17, 1870.

To all whom it lmag/coactiva;

Be it known that I, THOMAS S. HALL, of

Stamford, in the county ofFairiield and Sta-te of Connecticuuhaveinvented anew and Im proved Electrical Circuit Instrument ior'ltail#- way-Signals; and I do hereby7 declare 'the fol` lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, whichy will enable those skilled' in the art tbmake and use the .sa-me,V refereric'e being had to the accompanying drawing,

drawingforming-pat of this specification, in whichigl`1`re 1 isa plan' v-cwtf my improvement. Fig. 2 is an elevation `ot" a vertical section,

taken vin liney a; w, Eig. 1. Si lilar lettersindicat'e corresponding parts. This invention relates to operating signals, visible and audible, for railroads, byy the action of cur'r'entsbf electricity; and consists in an arrangement of mechanism, in combination with thetrack ofa railroad, in such a manner that a passing trainwill 'operate the rnechan-y ism, and close the electro-magnetic circuits, one o r more, by the closing 'of which the signais' are brought into action, andalso reversed.

The letter `A designates one "ofthe rails of a railroadltr'ack, and B is a horizontal lever, arrangedat Aright angles thereto, and extending from vthe head of the rail to a suitable platform, which sustains its t'ulcrum' D, and 'frein thence into a 'closed hox,.U, which has a vertical slot in its front to receive they lever. The said lever Bris so arranged on its fnicrum that it can vibrate in a verticalv plane, and that part of said lever which is between the fuicr'um mattei-an is snorterthaiiuiat whose endis contained in the box. "That end E ot' the lever Bwhich is adjacent to the rail isarranged close thereto,` at a higher level than the surface of therail, in which position it is held up, so that the wheels of passing trainsl will 'come in contact `with it, by a spring, F, which supports a chair, G,.acro'ss which the lever extends, and upon whicn it rests, between vertic'a'l guides H H, rising from thc chair, which guides have vertical slots I I, that receive gu'dgeons J, extending from the sides ofthe lever.

The object of the guides lH H islto prevent lateral displacement of the lever, and the slots I andgudgeons Jprevent the'lever from moving endwise.

The spring F rests in a bed, K, to which it is properly secured, and the chairG is firmly connected with the $pring,so that they will always :move together.

If itis thought'necessary', the chair can be yfurther secured from' displacement by the use of rodsandguides, arranged on the chair G and the hed K, so as to allow`the chair to m`ove up and 4down with the spring.

The spring F iS Drevente'di from throwing' the end E of the 4leve'rtoo high above the rail by means of, astrid, E?, on the 4extremity .of the under side of the lever B, which stud extends underthe vhead of the rail toward its web, so that the'` underside of the head of the' rail constitute'safstop to limit the upward movement of the lever.

The spring E can Vbe 'of any suitable material, and a weight may be used instead thereoi', if preferred. v r I The longer arm ofthe lever B extends into a box, G, which contains the end s 'of` wires It R from the positive and negativev poles of 'a batter.l

The longer arm ot lever Bis 'allowed vertical vplay 1n said box, and v its extremity 4is connected by a vertical r'od, X, with thesiiorter. end of the keyflever L, which is arranged above ai 1d paral lel'with lever B, and vibrates on a iulcrnm, M. Tliekey-1ever L extends toward the front of the box, and terminates above a vertical tube or holder, N, which contains the ends of the wire'sB R, and in which they are 'properly insulated, and also held separate and lapart from each other. The Wires enter the tube f'roir below, and terminate in springplates 0 0, which extend up vertically through j the top 'ot' the tube or holderN, where they are held'4 by means of rubber cushions P P in A such a manner that they always remain Vout of contact with each other. These plates O constitute adivided anvil, between Whose divisions the wedge-shaped end Q ot' the keylever L is forced down, as hereinafter explained, in order to complete the electrical circuit thron gh thewires R R, the upper extremities of the plates O heilig made to flare4 outward,

so as to guide and facilitate the entrance ot" the key-le\'erbet\.veen them, and theirspring` cushions P P operate to insure their contact with thc key by pressing `them against its sides as the key is forced down between them:

The key-lever L is vibrated automatically bythe impact or weight ot a locomotive'or cnr as its wheels roll upon and depress the raised end .E ot' the track-lever B, whereby the lon ger arm of said lever is raised and the key-lever vibrated upon its fulcrum, so as to crowd its end down between the divisionsof the anvil. When the end of lever B is relieved of the weight which depressed it, it is restored to its ibrmer elevated position by the spring F. which also, through lever B and connectingrod X, throws up and holds tlieilougcr arm ot' the key-Jever out of contact with the divisions of the anvil. The longer arm ofthe key-lever is also supported iu its elevated position out ot' contact with thcauvil by spiral springs S S, which rest on a stationary cross-bar, T, eX- tendini',r across the box O below the hey-lever L, sah` springs being` arranged around vertical .rods U U, whose lower ends move through holes .made in the cross-bar T, and whose upper ends pass up through holes in a stationary guide-bar, W, tothe movable transverse plate Y, to which they aresecured.

' lThe upper ends ofthe springs S S are confined to the rods below the bnr W bythe colA lars and pins Z Z, through which they act to raise the rods and with them the movable plate Y, which is inA turn brought up against the longer arm of the key-'lever7 so as to assist in keeping it upout of contact with the anvil while the mechanism is at rest. The guidebar W serves as a stop to the springs S,zand i arrests their action inilit'ting the movable vplate Y and the key-lever L, by the contact ot' the nuts Z Z with the bottom of said guidebar, which is adjusted in the machine to the proper height to cause the key-lever L to be always held up clear ot' the anvil while the mechanism is at rest.

Ordinarily the secondary springs S S are not required to raise and hold up the key-lever L, as described, as I make the spring F stiff and powerful, so as to require consider able power to compress it, and so as to prevent it from being actuated by accident byv persons passing lalong the track.

-The drawing shows a modification in the manner of constructing and arranging the divided anvil O and the parts which bring its divisions into communication. In this modicationthe yielding plate Y forms a component part of the key-lever L, although the latter only rests upon -said plate, without being attached to i From the ends of said plate Y two arms, a a, connected by a copper wire, g, extend along the sides of box C until they reach positions over cases or frames c c lixed to the sides of the box C, as shown in the drawing. The divisions 0 O of the anvil are here made in the form of boxes, which are contained within the insulating rubber cushions b b, extending through the cushions from top to bottom, but supported therein by the overlapping heads of said divisions O, which overlap the upper surt'ace of the rubber cushions and have holes in them to allow of their attachment to the wires It. Within the divisions or anvils 0 O are placed spiral springs e, which rest ony the bottoms ofthe hollow anvils 0 0 and surround rods d d, which work through holes in the tops and bottoms of the anvil-divisions. The upper ends of said springs are fastened to therods d by collars and pins, in the ordinary manner, so that the rods are held up, with their headsf clear of the surface of the anvils. The cushions b b are securely held in the cases or frames o c, the bottoms ofthe cushions being sustained in the bottom parts k k of the cases, the central portions ot' whose bottoms are removed, as shown in Eig. 2. By this construction and arrangement the rods d and their heads f form component parts of the anvils 0 O, and said parts, with the springs e ot' the rods, are eectually insulated by the hol low cushions b.

In operating myinvention according to this modification the descent of the key-lever L forces the yielding plate Y downward, and the arms a a of said plate are 'brought in contact with the heads ot the spring-rods d, whereby electrical communication is established between the wires 'R R, through the parts O,A

rods d, arms a, and wire g, the arms a constitoting the key. f

It will be observed that the anvil plates or divisions are supported in a yielding manner, so that the key-lever comes in contact-with *ielding surfaces, which will prevent thelia-` bility to injury that might occur if the parts were injured.

' In the illustrations here given of the divided anvil, I establish communication between them through the medium ot" a device which comes between them,or is brought in contact with them, but it is obvious that the same result may be produced by bringing together the tops of the upright divisions O O contained in the case or holderA N, instead of introducing between themv the wedge-key Q.

'This invention may be operated in connection with my improvement in electromagnetic railroad-signals, for which I received Letters Patent of the United States, December 7,1869, or. with other devices for automatically operating signals by means of electro-magnetic circuits.

I do not conne myself to the particular devices here shown for carrying out my invention, but can vary the same without departing from the nature of my invention', as, for example, the lever B which is moved by the train, can be arranged with the track, either between the rails or outside thereofV in such a manner' as to be movedl by an arm projecting from thelocomotive or from a oar, or the lever can be so arranged within the track as to be depressed by the impact of the ilange ot' the wheel. And the outer end of lever B can be brought directly in contactwith the polesot` the battery by placing them inthe proper position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new,` and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The lever B.,in combination with the keylever L, rod X, and the divisions of a divided anvil, 'substantially as described.

`2. The projection E" on the end of lever B, arranged beneath the head of the ail, substantially as and for thel purpose described.

3. The divided anvil, composed of independent parts 0, supported in such a manner as to yield under the advance of the key-lever and press against the same, substantiallyas described.

4, AThel manner of operating the keyever, which throws the anvil out of contact by means of the same spring F which restores the lever to its elevation, substantially as described.

THOMAS s. HALL.

Witnesses C. WAHLERS, E. E. KASTENHULBmi. 

